Bump's audit found SMEC is using the majority of its funding to provide various human services to adults rather than children in SMEC's member districts. Her office says such use of funding "may not be consistent with the purposes of an educational collaborative."

Cooper, meanwhile, said the state has approved the collaborative's articles of agreement that "clearly indicates" the organization offers services to adults. Cooper says Bump's office does not understand "the nature of educating a person with disabilities."

"It's a nonfinding," she said.

Bump disagrees, saying "this isn't just a matter of semantics." The state, she said, made a decision to privatize adult human services. She said lawmakers will need to undertake a discussion about what role educational collaboratives should fill.

Such services may be unnecessarily increasing the state's pension liability by millions of dollars, according to Bump's office.

Cooper dismissed that charge.

"You could say that about basically every state agency ... We are a public entity and we've been identified as a public entity. This is a nonissue," she said.

Established in 1975, the collaborative serves the school districts in Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford and Rochester. The collaborative provides educational resources to support and augment educational programs and services of the member public school committees.

Cooper said enrollment from the member communities currently numbers about 75 students between the ages of 3 and 22. In adult services, about 110 people are now enrolled and range in age from 22 to about 62, she said, adding that "the majority are in their 20s and 30s."

"Yes our adult services have grown exponentially," Cooper said. "But that's because the need has grown. There's no law that says we can't do it. We're filling a need and we're doing it damn well."

Bump also found that, contrary to state regulations, SMEC had not filed annual audited financial statements with the state. Her office says SMEC, which has administrative offices on Welby Road, was not maintaining its accounting records in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and had received unnecessary and in some instances not properly authorized payments totaling $53,063 under its state contracts. SMEC has failed to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses in its accounting records, according to Bump.

Cooper rejects those findings, too. She said her organization had been told it was exempt from filing annual financial statements.

The on-site auditors, said Cooper, "praised our internal controls extensively" and she said none of that was reflected in Bump's report.

Cooper says Bump makes it sound as if her organization does not keep accurate accounting records, which she says is false.

"We can account for every penny. We stand by our accounting methods," said Cooper. "It's a matter of presentation."

As for the $53,063, Cooper said the state reimbursed the collaborative for services that went above and beyond the state contract. She says "the method they paid us with was not in accordance with their own policy. "That was not in any way SMEC's decision."

The audit covered the period of July 1, 2008, through Oct. 31, 2010, said Bump.

Cooper said she was angry that Bump had lumped her collaborative with the Merrimack and READS educational collaboratives, both of which Bump's office found to have oversight and accountability problems.

Cooper added: "I don't even want to guess what she's trying to do. I'm not quite sure what her motivation is."